The season will once again be in the split-season format, with one small change to the timing. With 12 teams in the league, the K League administrators still wanted to maintain a 38 game season. So, the first “half” season will be 33 games long with each team playing each other three times. At that point, the league will split into top 6 and bottom 6, and each team will play each other one time (five games).

Relegation will also be slightly changed. The last place team will be relegated to the K League Challenge. The 11th place team will be forced to face a promotion-relegation playoff with a team from the K League Challenge.

Speaking of which, there are 10 teams in this year’s edition of the K League Challenge. They are (based on last year’s results):

Each team will play each other four times for a total of 36 games. The top team will earn automatic promotion to the K League Classic. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place teams will be involved in a promotion playoff with the aforementioned K League Classic team.

A Team-by-Team guide to the K League Classic (in predicted finish order last-first)

Sangju Sangmu – 12th (automatic relegation)
If you have not yet read Roy’s piece about Korea’s compulsory military service go here now. If you have, read on. The army team is back in the top flight after spending a year down in the Challenge. The team is led by a trio of Lee’s, Lee Keun-Ho, Lee Sang-Hyub, and Lee Ho. Unfortunately for Sangju Sangmu, Lee Sang-Hyub will complete his military service right after the season starts and the other two will finish in late September. It will likely be a rocky year for Sangju who will be fortunate to stay up.

Gyeongnam FC – 11th (playoff)
After a few solid seasons under the guidance of former national team boss Cho Kwang-Rae, Gyeongnam has steadily dropped down into the lower reaches of the K League. Managerial changes and a lack of an established core have hurt the Changwon-based side. Gyeongnam made some decent moves in the offseason, but I would expect them to be fighting to avoid relegation this year.

Jeonnam Dragons – 10th
2013 was disappointing for Jeonnam (Chunnam) fans. The team narrowly avoided the two automatic relegation spots by 8 points, and the playoff spot by just 4. The team’s biggest concern was scoring as they chalked up a measly 34 goals all season (less than a goal a game). The team managed to survive behind a stingy defense that conceded 45 goals all season. Jeonnam will be hoping a couple foreign imports, former Suwon striker Stevica Ristic and the Croatian Sandi Krizman, can boost their goal tally this year.

Seongnam FC – 9th
What’s in store for the newly re-branded Seongnam team? Probably some ups, some downs, and plenty of confusion. The ride hasn’t been completely smooth for new owners Seongnam City as even things like the team’s name isn’t completely clear (FC Seongnam or Seongnam FC). Old signs are still up at the Tancheon Sports Complex, and the club’s new kit hasn’t been released yet (although the keeper kit was). Seongnam went retro and brought back legendary manager Park Jong-Hwan after a six-year “break” from football. The team has some good players, but the off field changes may be a bit too much.

Incheon United – 8th
Incheon surprised many last season and got off to a blistering start before eventually fading towards the end. The team, once again, suffered an offseason raid from Jeonbuk and lost a couple key players. The question once again will be, can Incheon rebuild and remain competitive for another season? I suspect that the constant re-jigging of players may catch up to them this season.

Jeju United – 7th
Jeju is a difficult team to predict. They are backed by chaebol money, but rarely do they appear as a ‘big club’. Pedro Junior scored 17 for the island team last year, but the Brazilian headed for Japan during the offseason. Manager Park Gyeong-Hoon usually has the team competitive at least, and I would expect Jeju to do so again this season.

Busan IPark – 6th
Things were looking quite promising for Busan, until Guangzhou R&F made them an offer they couldn’t refuse for midfielder Park Jong-Woo. Suddenly Busan needed to reinforce the midfield and made a couple last minute purchases. The team should be strong at the back once again, but questions remain in attack.

Suwon Samsung – 5th
A dismal 2013 may be followed by a dismal 2014. Hardly something the club would want given their notoriously demanding fans. Reports of budget cuts in the offseason were not welcome news, but they may be the new reality for the club. The club will be hoping that North Korean international Jong Tae-Se builds on a decent first season, and combines well with Brazilian attack partners Roger and Santos Junior.

FC Seoul – 4th
Seoul will be an interesting team to watch. The club lost captain Ha Dae-Sung and top striker Dejan Damjanovic in the offseason to Chinese money. Younger players like Yoon Il-Rok will need to step up and help fill the void, and if the first ACL game was any indication, Seoul may be just fine. Coach Choi Yong-Soo remains one of the best in the league, and Seoul will expect to push for honors again.

Pohang Steelers – 3rd (ACL Spot)
Will last season’s champions suffer second-year syndrome or will they push hard to defend their title? My money’s on the former, and Pohang once again did not reinforce their squad during the offseason which potentially runs the risk of a thin squad getting run ragged. The World Cup break will help a bit (I don’t expect any Pohang players to make the cut), but in the end I think deeper squads will prevail.

Ulsan Hyundai – 2nd (ACL Spot)
Back to back last minute losses ended Ulsan’s 2013 campaign on a sour note. Manager Kim Ho-Gon resigned, and Ulsan appointed the inexperienced (at the top flight level) Cho Min-Kook. How well Cho adjusts to the demands of competing on three fronts will likely dictate how well Ulsan does. The squad is talented, one of the best in the league, and will surely be hungry to make amends for last year.

Jeonbuk Motors – 1st (Champions, ACL Spot)
Jeonbuk had a solid 2013, but ultimately missed out on everything. Choi Kang-Hee will be there for a full season which will surely help a team that struggled a bit in his absence. The team replaced army-bound winger Seo Sang-Min with Incheon’s Han Kyo-Won and China-bound striker Kevin Oris with a couple Brazilians. The impressively named Marcos Aurelio and Kaio. If the two can combine to get a similar goal tally to Oris’ 14 last year, and Lee Dong-Gook can stay relatively healthy, the title should be there for Jeonbuk to re-claim.Unfortunately for overseas fans, I don’t believe One World Sports is broadcasting any K League matches this season. A reliable stream is probably your only hope for catching domestic games.

13 Comments

Ok, Jae. I got a K-League question! It’s going to be somewhat long and hopefully entertaining to consider. I think I should adopt a K-League team to root for and am wondering who I should adopt. Before you say, “Busan IPark!” let me give you brief bio/types of teams I tend to root for. First, I’m a homer. I’m a Chicago guy so I’m a fan of my Chicago teams. Bulls, Cubs, Bears, Blackhawks, even the White Sox, and, of course, the Chicago Fire. That said, clearly, the K-League and Euro leagues are not in Chicago, so I have to adopt a team. I became a Liverpool sort of by accident. I think I liked Michael Owen and El Hadj Diouf back when they burst onto the scene and liked LFC ever since. They both kind of fizzled out for LFC, but it turned out a good match for me, because the types of teams I tend to like are ones that have history and tradition, but are not the Yankees of their league (loaded and/or always winning). Granted, LFC were sort of the Yankees back in the day, they certainly were not in my lifetime really, at least not since I’ve been a fan. It has made this year more rewarding. So that said, regarding the K-League, my mom is a straight up Seoul person (for generations), especially on my maternal gramps side. My dad was also from Seoul, but he was born in Daegu, which is where my paternal grandparents were for a little while at least. My maternal grandmother’s side supposedly had landholding ties to Kyongsangnamdo, though she’s actually a Seoul person, possibly not far from Busan area, but I don’t know for sure. That leaves me with 3 teams I’m considering. FC Seoul and Daegu FC and yes, Busan IPark, though they are a distant 3rd. Pohang and Suwon seemed liked the Yankees so I sort of counted them out. Seoul seems like the new Yankees though but I wouldn’t actually know for sure. Any insight you can offer into those 3 teams that might persuade me to adopt one of them? You can even suggest another if you think I’d be tempted. So… if you ever get the time, what say you? If you suggest Sangju Sangmu, I may have to desecrate Busan IPark’s stadium if I ever get to visit Busan.

Technically Ulsan isn’t in any province. The bigger cities, Busan, Ulsan, Gwangju, Daegu, Incheon, and Daejeon are “metropolitan cities” that exist outside of the provinces. Seoul and Sejong City are also special cases. It’s difficult to say in reality though (in terms of language, culture, etc) where Ulsan identifies. They speak like people from Gyeongsangnam-do, but geographically it’s right in between Gyeongnam and Gyeongbuk-do. It may just depend on where their family heritage traces.

Yea, I knew that regarding metropolitan cities, but you can take the regional affiliation out the city, but you can’t take the city out of the region. Lol. At least in my mind. I don’t have any clue though as to where the trace goes.

Seoul is certainly one of the “big boys”. Not an original league member, but came soon after. Seoul is unpopular outside of Seoul, simply because they’re in Seoul, a slightly contentious move when they did it as the league had previously ruled no team could be in Seoul. Seoul has one of the biggest support base in the league and generally have the money to buy decent players. Reasons to support: Popular, accessible to foreign fans, successful. Reasons to stay away: Yankees-ish (bigger, money, popular)

Daegu is relatively new to the league, just came into existence in 2002 after the World Cup and joined the K League in 2003. Daegu initially had a sizable fan base, but it’s dwindled over the past few years. Daegu has not created any sort of identity over the years, and were relegated to the K League Challenge last season. I think it will be difficult for them to gain promotion soon, but you never know. Reasons to support: You have Daegu ties, you like the Cubs so maybe a glutton for punishment? Reasons not to support: 2nd division, hard to watch/follow

Busan is a founding member of the K League, and initially had a bit of success. But as the league grew and more money came in, Busan has faded to become a more mid-lower table club. The team is forever in the shadow of their hugely popular baseball counterparts (Lotte Giants), and attendance is always quite sparse on gamedays. Reasons to support: ???, because I say they’re awesome. Reasons not to support: low fan support, forever midtable, little excitement

The K League lacks a true “Yankees” like team, but currently Seoul and Suwon would be the closest in terms of the emotions they generate from others. Pohang is a historically successful team, but there fan base is quite local, and they rarely generate the hate that successful teams usually get. An odd suggestion would be Seongnam FC. Like Liverpool they are a historically successful club (the most successful in Korea by silverware), but have fallen on hard times as of late. Seongnam has a small, but very dedicated group of fans.

Honestly, if you really want a recommendation I would go with either Seoul or Daegu. For K League teams it’s best to pick based on your connection to the city. I support Busan because I was born there. Have you been to Seoul or Daegu? Do you like one of the cities better? Or do you identify more with the people from one of them? I would go based on that.

This is great! Thanks. I think, unfortunately, I may have to go the Seoul route. However, perhaps I’ll reserve a little bit of love for Daegu, since you are right that I must be a glutton for a little punishment. By the way, not having Seoul in the league couldn’t have been a good thing for the league.. right?

It depends on your view. The league’s thinking was that all the clubs would want to be in Seoul and there would be few teams in the smaller cities, so it was kind of a fairness thing. But, given the massive population in Seoul it doesn’t make sense logically. Realistically Seoul could probably host two teams within the city and be fine.

K League Classic

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Gyeongnam

9

2

Gangwon

9

3

Pohang Steelers

7

4

Jeonbuk Motors

6

5

Suwon Bluewings

4

6

Incheon United

4

7

Jeju United

4

8

Jeonnam Dragons

3

9

Sangju Sangmu

3

10

Seoul

1

11

Daegu

1

12

Ulsan

0

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

March 18, 2018

Suwon Bluewings

1 - 1

Pohang Steelers

Ulsan

0 - 1

Jeju United

Jeonbuk Motors

2 - 1

Seoul

March 17, 2018

Jeonnam Dragons

1 - 3

Gyeongnam

Gangwon

2 - 1

Sangju Sangmu

Incheon United

0 - 0

Daegu

English Premier League

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Manchester City

81

2

Manchester United

65

3

Liverpool

63

4

Tottenham Hotspur

61

5

Chelsea

56

6

Arsenal

48

7

Burnley

43

8

Leicester City

40

9

Everton

40

10

AFC Bournemouth

36

11

Watford

36

12

Brighton & Hov…

34

13

Newcastle United

32

14

Swansea City

31

15

Huddersfield Town

31

16

Crystal Palace

30

17

West Ham United

30

18

Southampton

28

19

Stoke City

27

20

West Bromwich Albion

20

Hwang Heechan

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Red Bull Salzburg

62

Bundesliga

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Bayern München

66

2

Schalke 04

49

3

Borussia Dortmund

48

4

Eintracht Frankfurt

45

5

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

44

6

RB Leipzig

43

7

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

39

8

Stuttgart

37

9

Borussia Mönchengladbach

36

10

Augsburg 1907

35

11

Hertha BSC

35

12

Werder Bremen

33

13

Hannover 96

32

14

SC Freiburg

30

15

Wolfsburg

25

16

1. FSV Mainz 05

25

17

1. FC Köln

20

18

Hamburger SV

18

Kwon Changhoon

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

10

Dijon

38

Search for:

The Tavern of the Taeguk Warriors is an online community of Korean football/soccer supporters. We bring you news, analysis and opinion in English about Korean players abroad, youth players and the K League.